Applied Ethics and Realizable Ideals by Theodore Roosevelt 1912


This book consists of a series of five Lectures given in 1911 at the University of California Berkley campus. What a beautiful country this would be if the American People were able to accomplish what TR lays out as a proper course of action in our everyday lives. He does not talk about Ideals that are not possible to obtain. He does not talk about trying to figure out what is ethical. What he talks about the average man and average woman can accomplish. It can be accomplished because he does not ask anyone to do more  than he has done himself in the way he lived his life. TR not only talked the talk, TR walked the walk. TR's life long subject material was patriotism. To be an American Patriot you must be a good citizen. TR was always guided by his Christian ethics which he thought needed to find expression in wise deeds, not lip service or softheaded actions. An act of kindness without an expectation for personal gain is called paying it forward. What usually happens, when paying it forward, is that in some obscure way a blessing will find its way back to touch you in some manner. Theodore Roosevelt paid it forward nearly every day of his life. It is now high time that TR's monumental unselfish actions should have their greatest impact when the country he loved needs his guidance most.  His time for personal physical deeds have past. He can no longer do for us what needs to be done today. We only have his words now and a long record of accomplishments that prove the validity of his methods to inspire the actions that are required.  His words & examples in the form of deeds are all we need to inspire average citizens to achieve the realizable ideals of which he speaks.

The possibility of citizens acting upon TR's suggestions in a great enough number to move public opinion may be even more realizable today. The truth of his words resonate truer in our time than his own time, because we have followed a different course to our own detriment. Listen to his words. If you like what you hear, pay it forward by helping with the TR Revival of Applied Ethics and Realizable Ideals.

I am offering the actual introduction to this book because it is a vivid and striking wish that others hear TR’s messages.

INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM FREDERIC BADE.
   The addresses printed in this volume were delivered under the auspices of Pacific Theological Seminary by the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt, as Earl Lecturer, in the Spring of 1911. The Seminary is fortunate in possessing a Lectureship founded by Mr. Edwin T. Earl in 1901, whose purpose, as stated in the articles of foundation, is "to aid in securing at the University of California the presentation of Christian truth by bringing to Berkeley year by year eminent Christian scholars and thinkers to speak upon themes calculated to illustrate and disseminate Christian thought and minister to Christian life." The uncommon public interest which this series of lectures aroused, and the attendance of many thousands who daily crowded the Greek Theatre to hear them, emphasized to the Lectureship Committee the desirability of yielding to a wide-spread demand for their publication. Since Mr. Roosevelt did not have a manuscript, arrangements were made for an accurate stenographic report, which was afterwards submitted to him for revision. So much should be said in explanation of the forensic form of these lectures. Their fine ethical purpose justifies the hope that they may continue to stimulate good citizenship in wider circles than those which came within reach of the speaker's voice.